Fortnite kicked off its annual “Fortnitemares” Halloween event this week, and this year, you get to play as a killer ghost.
In this year’s Fortnitemares mode, the Fortnite island is packed with spooky touches — a foreboding fog can hang over the island, houses have Halloween decorations, and I’ve even found a witch’s hut surrounded by rideable brooms. But the real twist in Fortnitemares happens when you die: after your untimely demise, you’re returned to the island as a ghost so you can hunt — and troll — the surviving humans.
As a ghost, you can consume materials, health items, guns, and even the Marvel-themed superpowers littered around the map so that the humans can’t use them against you. If you stand still, your purple body disappears so you can hide in plain sight (though you can be spotted thanks to your still-visible glowing eyes). Instead of guns, you rely on a set of sharp claws to fight opponents at close range.
But perhaps most importantly, you also have a power that lets you scan for nearby human players. If the scan finds somebody, you’ll see a little red indicator of where they are on your screen and on your map. And crucially, that scan alerts ghosts in your vicinity to the presence of surviving humans, meaning they can join your hunt for the leftover players.
The introduction of the ghosts completely changes the dynamics of a usual Fortnite match. I’m not quite as eager to jump into big firefights as usual, as any player I defeat could return as a ghost to get their revenge. And if I’m one of the last surviving humans, I have to constantly be on alert for dangerous ghost hordes.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to survive against all of the ghosts, but I’m having a lot of fun trying. Though when I inevitably die, I love channeling my spookiest ghost self into terrorizing the humans.
The previous Fortnitemares events added zombies and the chance to take down a giant monster, so the opportunity to actually come back from the dead is yet another example of how Epic works to keep Fortnite fresh, even with its annual holiday events. This year’s Fortnitemares event takes place until November 3rd, so you still have some time left to get your ghost on. The game is also celebrating Halloween night by featuring an in-game virtual concert from reggaeton star J Balvin.
